Off the hook: Woman who accused Menendez of using her services says she was paid to make up story

Hudson Reporter

Mar 05, 2013 | 2719 views | 0 | 11 | |

HUDSON COUNTY -- In a report published in the Washington Post on Tuesday, an escort who appeared in a video claiming U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez had allegedly paid her for sex recanted and said she was paid to make up the story, and had never actually met Menendez.

The Post story, which cited court documents and other sources, quoted the escort as claiming that an attorney had approached her with a script and paid her to read it out loud, and it was video tapped and used against Menendez.

The video was used to reaffirm the claims of an anonymous tipster, who emailed to the FBI and a government watchdog group allegations that Menendez had allegedly patronized prostitutes while vacationing in the Dominican Republic.

The FBI, according to the Washington Post report, found no evidence to support these claims.

Menendez denied the allegations from the start and said they where charges brought by political enemies trying to undermine him reelection as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last fall.

Jubilant Menendez supporters told the Hudson Reporter that they knew all along that the prostitution charges were bogus, and while Menendez still faces a Senate ethics probe over flights he allegedly took from a political supporter, the most serious charges were orchestrated by groups seeking to discredit Menendez.

“The worst is over,” said one Hudson County Menendez supporter. “There was never any validity to the charge.”